December 05, 2007	Wednesday	Ziqa'ad 24, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Dec 4: The health ministry on Tuesday sacked the chief of the National Aids Control Programme in the wake of a UN report that Pakistan had regressed to a “high prevalence” zone from a “low prevalence” zone a few years earlier.

Dr Asma Bokhari, who would be succeeded by Dr Hassan Abbas Zaheer, was associated with the agency for 14 years.

The prevalence of HIV among drug users had alarmingly risen to 16 per cent, almost three times the threshold for being considered a concentrated epidemic, the UN report, released on Friday, said.

Sources in the ministry said that Federal Health Minister Ejaz Rahim was shocked to learn that the NACP had no expertise in dealing with blood transmission of HIV virus.

In Pakistan, blood transmission accounts for 80 per cent of the HIV cases, while the remaining are sexually transmitted.

Lacking capacity to arrest the spread of virus through blood transmission, looks to be the primary reason for Dr Bokhari’s ouster from the programme.

The other reason being cited for the move is the loss of Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria’s round seven of grants.

“Proposal by the NACP was virtually thrown out by the GFATM board of directors,” a source said.

UNAIDS country coordinator Arkadiusz Majszyk had questioned the programme’s effectiveness at a press briefing on the World Aids Day, observed a few days back.

“Like many other countries, I’m not happy with the progress,” he replied when he was asked to evaluate the performance of the national programme.

“Despite all the resources being put in by the international agencies the epidemic is growing,” he had regretted.

“Instead of money just changing hands it should be changing minds.”

Dr Bokhari’s contract had expired in March and since then she had been working without extension and the health ministry, for quite sometime, had been unaware of the anomaly.